2.17.2012

Woah!!! Long time no see...

My teammate Sean Doherty helped lift the US Youth mixed Biathlon/XC Relay team to the bronze medal at the Inaugural Youth Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck Austria.

There was another Eastern Cup.

The Kennett Boys capped off their undefeated season with a shared championship with Hanover.

I won both the Division Skate and Classic championship, as well as the Division and State Skimeister awards.

The Kennett Boys Nordic Team has been a force to be reckoned with this season, ending up as the number one public school in the state in the NH Nordic Coaches Series races, where we lost only to the private school St. Paul's. Other than those two losses, we won every meet we entered, finishing our season in a very nerve-wracking and slightly controversial tie with Hanover High School in our State meet at Great Glen Trails.
On a nearly perfect day to host a meet, our boys went out strong in the morning classic. I won the race, coming in with a time :49 seconds faster than the second place skier, Hanover's Tucker Cadow. Kennett placed 4 boys in the top 10, sliding into first by 2 points over Hanover, whose number 4 skier came in 11th.
Morning Score: Kennett 377, Hanover 375.

After the girls race, where my co-captain Hannah Benson won by a whopping 1:42.7, it was time for the skate race. Again, our boys went out strong and rested, but when results came out, it looked too close to call. Both our and Hanover's #4 skiers were less than half a second apart, and on the unofficial results it looked like they had tied.
After nearly 2 hours of stress and pacing, the results had finally come out, Hanover had beaten us in the skate, with their #4 beating ours by 0:00.2. Skate scores: Hanover 380, Kennett 378...
Final Scores: Kennett 755, Hanover 755
This is not the first time this has happened: in 2007, the Kennett and Hanover boys tied for the championship.

The following day (Thursday) was the alpine State Championships, where, as usual, the Kennett Boys won. I came in 36th for the slalom and 51st for the GS, enough to boost me over my teammate for the Division Skimeister.

Then, tonight (Friday) was the NH Ski Jumping State Championship, where Plymouth flew off with their second state title in as many years. Also, this is where I walked away with my 4th gold medal in three days, winning the overall State Skimeister Award. This is one of the most prestigious awards in NH High School skiing, as the winner is regarded the best overall skier in all disciplines: Alpine GS and Slalom, Nordic Skate and Classic, and Ski Jumping.

I will post an Eastern Cup/Miscellaneous update after this Sundays Cheri Walsh 15k Freestyle at Craftsbury, where I will also start my reports on the IBU Youth/Junior World Biathlon Championships (I wasn't able to get enough updates other than results), following fellow Team NH/USA skiers Mikaela Paluszek (Personal Blog) and Sean Doherty.